Wednesday, 25 May 2011

The Prisoner: The Schizoid Man

‘The Schizoid Man’ is probably my favourite episode of ‘The Prisoner’. In it, we get two Patrick McGoohan’s for the price of one, the result of yet another attempt by the authorities to break down the unbreakable Number Six, this time by drugging him and conditioning him to think that he is someone else entirely, a lookalike agent brought to The Village to impersonate himself. The actual lookalike agent is already living as Number Six, which only adds to the confusion.

I feel like I haven’t explained that very well but it’s brilliant telly, very clever, and McGoohan, as usual, gives a performance that is deeply rational, very believable and completely barking.